


Consequences

by AshsHorrorShow



Category: Warriors - Erin Hunter
Genre: Angst, Drabble, Existential Angst, Friendship, Gen, Redemption, Russetfur and Blackstar Talk About How They're Afraid of Going to Kitty Cat Hell
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-04
Updated: 2017-11-04
Packaged: 2019-01-29 10:18:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,226
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12628842
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AshsHorrorShow/pseuds/AshsHorrorShow
Summary: Blackstar and Russetfur both knew they were terrible, and could monsters be redeemed? They weren't entirely sure.





	Consequences

Blackstar hated to admit it, but he was getting older. There was once a time when his muzzle wasn’t completely shaded grey and his joints didn’t creak in protest whenever he got up. But that was long ago.

Unable to doze off like he wanted to, he cracked open one eye to see Russetfur curled up companionably by his side, her eyes closed as she soaked up the warming rays of the Greenleaf sun. Her tail tip curled and uncurled in lazy content. He eyed her. She was also incredibly old now. She was even older than him after all, and unlike him, she didn’t have nine lives from StarClan to assure her extra time. Even if her more aged appearance wasn’t enough to show the test of time was beginning to get to her, he had noticed that she got tired a lot more easily and he would catch her chatting with the elders a lot, almost as if she belonged with them. And maybe she did. Maybe they both did. But they were both stubborn. He blamed it on the ShadowClan in them. ShadowClan cats didn’t usually give up leadership until they were dead or at least until they physically couldn’t work anymore. He smiled at the thought, pride for his Clan swelling in his chest.

Russetfur opened her eyes then and caught him staring. She flicked her tail across his nose and meowed, “Any reason you’re staring at me like some sort of an owl?”

Blackstar snorted and lifted his muzzle up to try and stop the ticklish assault before he replied honestly, “Just thinking about how old we’re getting.”

A flash of rebelliousness flickered in Russetfur’s gaze as she snorted, “Speak for yourself, old timer! I, for one, know I’ve got seasons in me still!”

Blackstar certainly hoped that was true. She was one of the few cats in ShadowClan who he could honestly say he had been through thick and thin with. He didn’t think he was ready to part with her yet, if ever.  


He was snapped out of his thoughts when he suddenly heard Russetfur ask, “Hey Blackstar… are you afraid of dying?” She rolled on her back as she said this, soft belly fur exposed. Her green gaze curious as she looked up at him from her position. 

Blackstar was taken aback by the question. Letting out a huff, he said, “Of course not! What nonsense are you spouting on about? One second you’re bragging and saying you got seasons of life on you still and then you are asking me if I am afraid of death! What is that about?”

Russetfur scowled at him, “Oi, I wasn’t who brought up the topic of aging and all of that. You’re the one who got me on that line of thought.” Rolling back onto her stomach and faced away from him with an annoyed huff. Blackstar wondered if he had made her mad enough that she would refuse to talk to her when she suddenly began to speak, “To be honest, I am kind of scared myself.”

Blackstar had to admit, he was curious now. It wasn’t like Russetfur to admit she was scared of anything. He decided to voice that. Cocking his head and narrowing his eyes in confusion, he said, “Why would you be scared of that? It’s not like you to admit that you’re scared of anything, Russetfur.”

Russetfur snorted at the last part, saying, “Very true, so don’t get used to it.” She lapsed into silence for a few heartbeats, as if thinking about what she was trying to figure out what she wanted to say, “Let’s be real with each other here. We… weren’t always very good cats. Some can argue we still aren’t…” She added the last part almost bitterly, her whiskers twitching.

Blackstar stiffened. He knew exactly what she was talking about. Bristling slightly, he began to point out, “That is not fair. We were just-“

“Yeah, yeah, I know what you’re going to say,” Russetfur snapped, no patience in her voice, “That we were just following orders and remaining loyal to our leaders at the time. But how far can we go with that excuse? Even leaders are supposed to be bound by the warrior code and both Brokenstar and Tigerstar had definitely broken it, multiple times. And we did too. For a while, we were not better than those flea-ridden BloodClan cats. Clan history does not portray us in a good light… and rightfully so.”

Her gaze was almost solemn as she flattened her ears. Looking down at her white paws, she meowed, “We hurt a lot of cats, Blackstar. We even killed some as well…"

Blackstar cringed, knowing that she was mostly meaning that _he_ had killed cats. Memories of Rosetail and Stonefur and their corpses filled his mind. He knew they hadn’t deserved to die and yet her had shown no mercy to them back then, despite that fact. Guilt began to gnaw at the edges of his stomach. He wanted to say something, but he didn’t trust it to say anything that he needed to be said, so he merely thumped his large tail in acknowledgement. Russetfur took this as her cue to continue.

“A lot has changed since then of course. You and I have grown as cats, and ShadowClan is thriving. I think you are a good leader and I don’t think of myself as a bad deputy either. But perhaps at this point, there is no chance to redeem ourselves y’know? After all, StarClan had even visited Brokenstar and Tigerstar once but do you ever see them walking amongst our ancestors whenever you visit StarClan?”  
Blackstar didn’t. And he had a feeling both he and Russetfur knew where both toms were residing now.

“Do… do you think we can ever repent for our crimes?” Russetfur meowed, “Or are we nothing more than heartless monsters who’d managed to be lucky enough to survive, unlike so many of our former Clanmates who were with us at the time?”

Blackstar sat in a thoughtful, albeit worried silence for a while before answering honestly, “I don’t know.” It sounded defeated and he hated he couldn’t give a more solid answer, but he couldn’t. But he could at the very least try to be as optimistic as possible. “I don’t know what will happen to us when we die. Maybe you’re right and we do deserve to rot in the Dark Forest with the rest of our lot. But surely the fact we feel a semblance of remorse differentiates from them somewhat, right?”

He saw Russetfur smile a bit at the effort, as she shrugged and said, “Maybe…”

“And besides. We still got seasons until we have to truly worry, right? And the least we can do to compensate for our crimes is to not let ShadowClan down again. So, come on, let’s just continue to do what we are doing, and we’ll worry about StarClan when we have to worry.” He tapped her shoulder with his tail encouragingly.

“Wasn’t planning on doing anything different!” Russetfur purred, and Blackstar gave her a small smile.

But even with the optimistic note, the two of them sat in silence and worried for a few extra moment as just how truly terrifying the prospect of taking consequences for their actions truly was.

**Author's Note:**

> And for one time in his life  
> Of power and control  
> (Kyrie Eleison)  
> Frollo felt a twinge of fear  
> For his immortal soul 
> 
> \- The Hunchback of Notre Dame
> 
> Okay, bad joke, bad joke. But seriously. I love that movie. 
> 
> I also love Blackstar and Russetfur. They were both really cool characters. 
> 
> I actually had this idea YEARS ago but I never really implemented it. So here we are. I don't think it's my best work, I don't think it's the worst work. It's just here. It fits with all of my angsty Warriors fics that all involve death somehow. lol. :'D
> 
> I hoep you enjoyed and as always, critique is wanted.


End file.
